January 23, 2017 Monday
An Open Letter to Community Activist // Mr. ``Ducky'' Birts
Care of Zion Baptist Church
Broad and Venango Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
From Brother Tracy Gibson
Dear Brother Birts,
Wow! That was a
really long commemorative program on Monday – Martin Luther King Junior day. I was very glad I made the decision to attend
the program at Zion Baptist Church.
First I want to thank you for all the years you have invested in our
local Black community and also for the time you have spent in dealing with
issues on the state and national level -- issues that are vital to our Black community
here in Philadelphia and to Black people nationally and internationally.
If it was not for
people like me and you, our community would be much worse off, more
disorganized, more uninformed and more unable to get the vital goods and
services we need to not only survive, but thrive as well.
There are so many
issues that need tackling. Issues like education; profitability for our Black
companies and our larger Black corporations;
how our image is treated in the major media and in Black media; paying
proper tribute to our leaders from past years; and constructing a positive path
for our youth to follow [with their help and input of course].
I think Doctor
Martin Luther King, Junior and Reverend Lion Sullivan did an excellent job
dedicating themselves to our causes and served as an excellent role models for
us to follow and learn from. One thing
both leaders were great at was sharing wealth and information with others who
wanted to have influence and input and who hailed from our Black community as
well.
Unfortunately for
me, as a person who suffers from an emotional instability [which is almost
totally under control], I have not been given much of an inroad to some of the
wealth and support that exist in our community for activists. [I hope you will
take the time to examine the enclosed documents that show some of the hard work
I have done most recently including my Gibson Principals for Africa; my 2016
Corporate Annual Report; my 2015 Corporate Annual Report; and my statement on
prison reform I sent to the Obama Administration only days after they were first
installed in the Presidency.
What I’m getting
at is not only my own personal financial needs being unfulfilled, but the fact
that many, many other activists are having to do without and spend their own
needed dollars for their work when there is a deep need for such dollars to
come from the Black community. [I don’t think grants from our so-called oppressors
such as Exxon and Halliburton are acceptable sources for us to take money from
because there are always strings attached that can weaken what we need to be
about as champions for our Black community].
What we really
need to do is work to replace the dollars we spend as a Black community outside
of our Black community with dollars spent for our own Black companies inside our
Black community. We need to support our Black businesses! This will take years to
fully expand and is a Herculean task, considering the thousands of dollars the
corporate structure spends on advertising aimed at Black inner-city markets. ]
However, because
a task is big doesn’t mean it should not be taken into our realm of work to be
done. I have supported our using the United Bank; and I just recently gave an Ethiopian
Restaurant owner some information about how to advertise in Black publications
and on WURD: 900 AM Black Talk Radio.
These are things that really get at the heart of helping our Black community.
Every year I look
at the events that are advertised in PNB newspaper, including some sponsored by
you and your foundation. Being a
``little guy’’ with a severely limited income, I have not been able to attend
any of these events, but I want you to know I support you in Spirit. I was fortunate enough to be able to join
WURD 900 AM Black Talk Radio a few weeks ago.
They sent me a nice Tee-Shirt and a list of Black companies to support.
I have already decided to visit Smooth Like That Men and Boys Clothing Store—at
5705 North Broad Street-- and JCW Computer Consulting at 7478 Rhodes
Street, Suite B. There are Ways of expanding the list of Black stores WURD has
as advertisers, and I plan on doing that further into the future.
I LOVe being a
Black activist and won’t stop no matter how ostracized I feel from our
established Black leadership. But now that I’m 60 years old, I would like
to not only be recognized, but properly compensated for the important work I
do. My feeling is that there is plenty
of work to go around and plenty of money to be reinvested into our Black
activist’s communities.
I have a plan
that I’m working on formulizing that helps build an infrastructure that
includes factories and administrative corporate buildings that will make sure
more and more of our Black dollars get back into the hands of Black people. Like
I said in a recent letter – not everybody wants to get a college
education. Factory jobs at good pay don’t
have to be something foreign to our shores if we have a determined Spirit and
are willing to talk about the benefits gained from such stability that good
factory work can supply and demand such from our Black corporate, civic and
community leaders.
We used to have
the Black United Fund as a source of income for our Black community. I have to look into what they are doing. I
know they were curtailed from some of their financial activities because they
took bold action and supported Mumia Abu Jamal in at least one instance. The
more we take on the powers that be and support our Sisters and Brothers the
more we will be rewarded by our own progressive Black community. But such things need us to take action and
fully educating our Black public as to why they are so important.
I hope you
remember my name from the days when we were boycotting the Daily News and
meeting at Brother Bruce Crawley’s Center City office. We really had the Daily News on the ropes and
were about to help, I thought, the Philadelphia Tribune become a Daily
newspaper. But the rock was chipped, and things changed and we didn’t keep the
pressure on for some reason. [I wrote Bruce, but never got an answer as to why
we weren’t keeping the pressure on and making the positive changes we needed to
make. ]
I know you must get quite a few Black people
asking for work and jobs frequently. I am sending you a resume to help you see
who I truly am and help me get a job. I am more than willing to work and will
put in a full day’s work for a full day’s pay. I have written WURD about being
a consultant for them [I have a degree in journalism and Black Studies from The
Ohio State University]; I also recently got my Serv.Safe certificate
[Certificate number 14312656], in food service through a class with the
People’s Emergency Center. I also have an extensive work record with my own
company and experience with the Philadelphia Tribune and TV Guide magazine.
I am willing and
able to work and I especially LOVe our Black youth and want to work as a
counselor / teacher for them. However,
in this field I need more qualifications even though I worked unpaid for a
Black men’s support group for seven years as a facilitator. I have also written
ENON Tabernacle Baptist Church [Reverend Waller] to apply for work in their kitchen.
Your work to help
me find a job is greatly appreciated. I
really enjoyed the Martin Luther King Junior / Leon Sullivan event and ask that you keep me informed for other
such events in the future.
Gratefully,
Tracy Gibson,
Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer,
Brother Tracy Gibson and Associates, INC.
Finding inroads to help our entire Black community.
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